Uzbekistan still studying nuclear power plant tech of various countries, says energy minister

Uzbekistan is continuing with studies of the nuclear experience and technologies of various countries as it assesses how to take its first step into nuclear power, according to the country’s energy minister Jurabek Mirzamahmudov.

Mirzamahmudov this week told Daryo that the government was currently carrying out an analysis of whether to opt for a single large nuclear power plant (NPP) or small modular reactors (SMRs).

“Not only Russian, but the experiences of other countries, technologies are being studied. That's why we haven't stopped working on this. Since this is a very large strategic project, we can submit a report to our president without haste, having weighed and measured everything not seven times, but seventy-seven times, having calculated and analysed everything," Mirzamahmudov was quoted as saying.

He added: “We are carrying out procedures based on the requirements of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Authority]. That is, there are licensing processes in this sphere, the development of regulatory documents.”

Also this week, head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, said Russia and Uzbekistan have moved into the final stage in terms of preparing a contract that would commission Russia to build an NPP for Tashkent. All the main project solutions were reached back in 2019, he said, but the pandemic then stopped many processes from moving forward.